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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LTPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1892. 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LTPPINCOTT COMPANY, 
1892. 



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Copyright, 1892, by J. B. Lippincott Company, 



'Hl fsTEPEOTYPERSANDPRlNTERSl jll- 



SPAIN. 



Spain (Span. Espana) occupies the larger part 
of the south-western peninsula of Europe, and 
attains in Cape Tarif a the most southerly point of 
the whole continent. It lies between 43° 45' and 
36° 1' N. lat., and between 3° 20' E. and 9° 32' 
W. long. It is bounded on the N. by the Bay of 
Biscay and by the Pyrenees, on the E. and S. by 
the Mediterranean, on the SW., W., and NW. by 
the Atlantic and by Portugal. From Fuenterrabia 
in the north to Tarifa in the south is 560, from Cape 
Finisterre in the north-west to Cape Creux in the 
north-east is 650 miles. The area is 191,367 sq. in. ; 
the population in 1890 was estimated at 17,500,000. 
The country, including the Balearic and Canary 
Isles, was divided in 1834 into forty-nine provinces ; 
but the names of the fourteen more ancient king- 
doms, states, and provinces are still in use. The 
following table gives the names of the ancient and 
modern provinces, with tbeir area and population, 
according to the census of 1887. 



SPAIN. 



Ancient Provinces. 



New Castile 
La Mancha. . 



Old Castile. 



Leon 

Asturias 



Galicia 

estremadura 



Andalusia 



Murcia. . . 
Valencia. 

Aragon . . 



Catalonia. 



Basque 
Provinces. 



Modern Provinces. 



North African 



Islands 



Madrid 

Toledo 

Guadalajara , 

Cuenca 

Ciudad Real 

Burgos , 

Logrono 

Santander . . 

Soria , 

Segovia , 

Avila 

Palencia 

Valla dolid . . 

C Leon , 

■I Zamora 

^ Salamanca. . 

Oviedo 

Coruna 

Lugo 

Orense , 

Pontevedra . 
Badajoz 

Caceres 

Sevilla 

Cadiz 

Huelva 

Cordoba 

Jaen 

Granada 

Alineria 

Malaga 

Murcia 

Albacete 

Valencia 

Alicante. . . . 
Castellon . . . 

C Zaragoza 

< Huesca 

V Teruel 

/Barcelona . . 
Tarragona . . 

Lerida 

Gerona 

Navarra .... 
Viscaya. .... 
Guipuzcoa . . 

Alava 

Settlements 



Total. 



/ Balearic . 
1 Canaries. 



Area in 
sq. miles. 



2,997 
5,586 
4,869 
6,726 
7,840 
5,651 
1,945 
2,112 
3,836 
2,714 
2,982 
3,126 
3,043 
6,167 
4,135 
4,940 
4,090 
3,078 
3,787 
2,739 
1,739 
8,688 
8,014 
5,429 
2,829 
4,122 
5,300 
5,184 
4,937 
3,302 
2,824 
4,477 
5,972 
4,353 
2,098 
2,446 
6,607 
5,878 
5,494 
2,985 
2,451 
4,775 
2,272 
4,046 
849 
728 
1,205 



General Total. 



191,367 



1,860 
2,944 



196,171 



Pop. in 1887. 



684,630 
359,562 
201,496 
242,024 
292,291 
337,822 
181,465 
242,843 
151,471 
154,457 
193,093 
188,954 
267,297 
380,229 
269,621 
314,424 
595,420 
613,792 
431,644 
405,074 
443,385 
480,418 
339,793 
543,944 
429,381 
254,831 
420,714 
437,842 
484,341 
339,383 
519,377 
491,438 
229,492 
733,978 
432,335 
292,437 
414,007 
254,958 
241,865 
899,264 
348,579 
285,417 
305,539 
304,051 
235,659 
181,856 
92,893 
5,086 



16,949,872 



312,646 

287,728 



17,550,246 



SPAIN. 



Colonies. 


Area in 
sq. miles. 


Population. 


America — 

Cuba 


45,700 
3,580 

65,610 
570 
420 

850 


1,521.684 ; 
810,000 

5,995,160 

36,500 
8,000 

176,000 


Porto Rico 


Asia — 

Philippine Islands 

Caroline Islands and Palaos 

Marian Islands 


Africa — 

Ferdando Po, Ann bon, &c 

Total 


116,730 


8,547,344 



Coast-line. — The coast-line is estimated at 1317 
miles, of which 712 belong to the Mediterranean 
and 605 to the Atlantic. Spain has thus but 1 mile 
of coast-line to 145 sq. miles of area, while Italy 
has 1 to 40 and Greece 1 to 7. The shore of the 
Bay of Biscay presents an almost unbroken wall 
of mountain and rock, but in the north-west and 
west appears the most southerly prolongation of 
the fiord or firth system of Norway, western Scot- 
land and Ireland, forming as usual fine harbours — 
Ferrol, Corunna, Vigo, &c. Portugal indents a 
frontier of nearly 400 miles ; to the south, from 
Portugal to Gibraltar, the Atlantic coast is low. 
Cadiz is here the chief harbour. The southern 
Mediterranean shore is rocky, backed up by the 
huge mass of the Sierra Nevada and its prolonga- 
tions to Cape Gata. Malaga and Almeria are the 
chief harbours here ; in the south-east and east are 
the naval arsenal of Cartagena and the commer- 
cial ports of Valencia and Barcelona and others. 
Though almost a peninsula, this uniform character 
of the coast-line and the great elevation of its 
central plateau give Spain a more continental 
character in its extreme range of temperature than 
any of the other peninsulas of Europe. The greater 
part of its surface consists of a plateau of between 
2000 and 3000 feet above the sea-level, traversed 
by loftier ranges. On the east the plateau is 
buttressed by chains which descend rapidly to the 
Mediterranean. The mountains of Oca, the Sierra 
de Moncayo, and the Idubeda Mountains rise 
sharply from the valley of the Ebro on the north ; 
the Sierra Morena on the south is of inferior eleva- 
tion ; the western ranges run into the frontier 
of Portugal, and lose themselves in the Atlantic. 
Outside the plateau lie the highest summits of the 
whole country, the Pic de Nethou in the Pyrenees 
(11,151 feet), and the Pic de Velate in the Sierra 



6 SPAIN. 

Nevada (11,670), while the Picos de Europa in the 
Cantabrian Range attain over 8000 feet. The 
plateau itself is traversed by four mountain-ranges, 
the Oca and Idubeda Mountains above mentioned, 
which separate the valley of the Ebro from that of 
the Douro ; the Guadarrama Range, which divides 
this river from the basin of the Tagus ; the Sierra 
de Toledo, which forms the watershed between the 
Tagus and the Guadiana; while the southern but- 
tress, the Sierra Morena, forms the northern wall 
of the valley of the Guadalquivir. The whole 
plateau has a general slight inclination from east 
or north-east to south-west, and hence all the con- 
siderable rivers of Spain except the Ebro flow west- 
ward to the Atlantic. The general elevation of 
the plateau conceals the real height of its moun- 
tains and passes; thus, the highest point of the 
railway from the north to Madrid is about 60 feet 
higher than the tunnel of Mont Cenis, and that of 
the old coach-road through the Guadarrama is 300 
feet higher still. 

Geology. — A mass of granitic, Cambrian, and 
Silurian rocks extends from Galicia south-east 
to the valley of the Guadalquivir. The Carbon- 
iferous formation occupies the north and south- 
west corners of the great plateau. The valley 
of the Ebro is a trough of Secondary rocks extend- 
ing from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean ; 
another band of Secondary rocks forms the region 
of Andalusia south of the Guadalquivir ; the Upper 
Cretaceous formation stretches from the basin of 
the Ebro to the granite of the Guadarrama and to 
the east of Madrid; these older formations are 
overlaid by Tertiary, Eocene and Miocene, marine 
and fresh-water deposits. The visible surface of 
Spain consists of 37 per cent, of crystalline and 
PalaBozoic rocks, 34 per cent, of Tertiary, 19 of 
Secondary rocks, and 10 per cent, of Quaternary 
deposits. The remains of undoubted volcanoes are 
found at Olot in Catalonia, at Cabo de Gata in the 
south-east, and at Ciudad Real in La Mancha. To 
the frequency of older igneous action, and to the 
fractured condition of the later rocks, is perhaps 
due the great mineral wealth of Spain. 

Climate and Products. — The configuration of the 
country renders the climate very varied. In parts 
of the north-west the rainfall is among the heaviest 
in Europe. In the east and south-east occasionally 
no rain falls in the whole year. Even in the north 
the contrasts are striking. The rainfall in the 
Western Pyrenees is very great, yet on the northern 






SPAIN. 7 

slope of the valley of the Ebro there are "districts 
almost rainless. The western side of the great 
plateau, speaking generally, is more humid and 
much colder than the eastern, where irrigation is 
necessary for successful cultivation. With this 
difference in climate goes a corresponding difference 
in products. Galicia is almost a cattle country; 
Estremadura possesses vast flocks of sheep and 
herds of swine. The vegetable productions of 
Galicia and the Asturias are almost those of 
Devonshire and of south-west Ireland. Till the 
18th century cider was the great beverage in the 
north; but in the basin of the Minho, in the 
Rio j as on the Ebro, in Navarre, Aragon, and 
Catalonia strong red wines are grown in abund- 
ance. The productions of Catalonia and Tarragona 
are almost those of Provence and the Riviera. 
The plains of Leon and of Old and New Castile 
are excellent corn-growing regions. From Valencia 
southwards the products are semi-tropical; the 
climate is almost more tropical than that of the 
opposite coast of Africa. Fruits of all kinds, 
luseious or fiery wines, oil, rice, esparto grass, and 
sugar are common along the coast. No other 
part of the soil of Europe is so rich in varied 
produce. It is curious to note how much of this 
is originally exotic, but has become naturalised. 
Like all other countries of western Europe, the agri- 
culture of Spain has been depressed of late years 
by competition with America; but her export 
of wine to France has been greatly increased 
owing first to the destruction of the French vine- 
yards by the phylloxera, and afterwards to the 
war of tariffs between France and Italy ; the export 
of wine to France is over £10,000,000, while that 
to England is only £866,000. The quantity of 
agricultural produce in Spain in cereals, wine, oil, 
and fruit seems to be limited only by the paying- 
demand, and is checked only by the cheaper com- 
petition of other countries. Large tracts of Spain 
once cultivated in Roman or in Moorish times now 
lie abandoned and unproductive; 46 per cent, of 
the territory is uncultivated. 

Population. — For a moment in the 16th century 
Spain was the most important country in Europe ; 
but the population was unequal to the drain 
upon it caused by constant warfare, emigration, 
expulsion of portions of the inhabitants of the 
peninsula, and above all by adverse economical 
and industrial conditions. Thus a population 
of over 10 millions at the end of the loth and 



8 SPAIN. 

beginning of the 16th centuries fell to little 
more than 6 millions in the 17th; the numbers 
then slowly rose: (1768) 9,307,804; (1797) 
10,541,221; '(1857) 15,464,340; (1860) 15,673,536; 
(1870) 16,835,506. Spain, if the census can be 
trusted, has increased in population some 
7,000,000 during the 19th century. As in other 
countries, the town and industrial population has 
augmented in a greater ratio than the rural and 
agricultural. In 1887 there were in Spain one city 
with over 400,000 inhabitants, Madrid; one of 
250,000, Barcelona; three of between 150,000 and 
100,000, Seville, Valencia, and Malaga. The most 
densely populated provinces are Madrid, Barcelona, 
Galicia, and the Basque Provinces. Emigration, 
which is steadily on the increase, is proving a 
heavy drain on the country ; already there are not 
enough labourers in the agricultural districts, and 
every year thousands of families are seeking new 
homes and higher wages in South America, Algeria, 
and elsewhere. 

Industries. — Some 60 or 70 per cent, of the 
population are engaged in agriculture of various 
kinds, and 10 or 11 per cent, in mining or manufac- 
turing industries and trade. Since the sale of 
church, crown, and much of the municipal property 
during the 19th century the land has become much 
divided; it is estimated that there are about 3J 
millions of farms, of which f million are occupied 
by tenants, the rest by proprietors. The seat of 
the manufacturing industries — mainly cotton — is 
chiefly Catalonia; and the manufacture of corks 
(1,400,000,000 yearly) employs over 8000 men in 
that province. The mineral wealth is more widely 
distributed — iron in Biscay and the province of 
Huelva; copper at Huelva, in the Bio Tinto and 
Tharsis mines; lead at Linares; quicksilver at 
Almaden; coal chiefly in the Asturias; salt in 
Catalonia, and by evaporation near Cadiz. The 
amount produced in 1888 was as follows: 



Minerals. " Production in Tons. Exported in Tons. 

Iron 5,609,876 4,464,385 

Lead 356,545 2,168 

Argentiferous Lead 183,441 8,825 

Copper 3,202,416 S25,046 

Zinc 74,353 32,004 

Quicksilver 27,847 

Salt 413,8S6 235,1S2 

Coal, Coke 1,225,173 



SPAIN 



Smelted Metals. Production in Tons. Exported in Tons. 

Iron and Steel 252,116 96,801 

Lead 161,462 58,957 

Argentiferous Lead 73,376 70,636 

Copper 70,719 45,080 

Zinc 26,173 1,089 

Quicksilver 1,865 1,104 



Until lately the only religion tolerated was that 
of the state, the Roman Catholic; now a certain 
toleration is allowed to other denominations. The 
Catholic clergy are paid by the state ; ecclesiastical 
matters are regulated by the Concordat of 1851. 
There are nine archbishops, with fifty-seven suf- 
fragan bishops, four unattached bishops, and about 
35,000 clergy. Since 1868 the theological educa- 
tion is given in seminaries entirely under the hands 
of the bishops. 

Education varies greatly among different classes 
and in different provinces. In the large towns and 
in some of the provinces a great effort is made to 
keep the higher and the technical schools on a 
level with the best in other European countries. 
In other parts the neglect is very great. There 
are ten universities — Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, 
Oviedo, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Valencia, 
Valladolid, and Saragossa : the number of students 
is about 17,000. In the episcopal seminaries and 
religious schools about 9000 are educated. Of 
secondary institutions there are about 70, with 
356 affiliated colleges. The primary schools 
number some 25,000, with 1,500,000 pupils, and the 
private schools 5000, with about 300,000 pupils. 
Many of the primary schools in the provinces are 
in a wretched condition, the salary of the teachers 
being only about £5 per annum, and the buildings 
and other appliances to match. The great fault of 
the higher Spanish education is in the numbers 
who press into professional, literary, and political 
careers in comparison with those who dedicate 
themselves to commercial, industrial, or agricultural 
pursuits. By reason of this Spain loses great part 
of the advantages of her natural wealth. All 
her principal mines are worked, her railways built, 
schemes of irrigation carried out with foreign 
capital, and in spite of the excellence of her 
labourers the higher employees are often foreigners. 
The progress of agriculture is impeded in the same 
way, and legislation is too often founded on merely 
theoretical ideas, instead of any practical know- 
ledge of the real needs of the country. 

The total imports and exports of Spain have 



10 SPAIN. 

much increased of late years. The imports in 
1877 amounted to £16,340,672, and the exports to 
£18,175,140; in 1887 £22,550,072 and £25,326,612; 
in 1890 £37,645,517 and £37,510,395 respectively. 
The recent increase is chiefly due to the export of 
wine to France and imports from that country. 
The exports from Spain to Great Britain are ahout 
£11,500,000, and the imports £5,000,000; but the 
statistics are always behind-hand and often very 
confused. Since October 1848 over 6000 miles of 
railway have been constructed. Madrid, the 
capital, is now in railway communication with 
all the chief harbours and commercial routes in 
the kingdom, and also with Portugal. Two lines 
at either extremity of the Pyrenees connect the 
Spanish with the French and European lines, and 
a third was in 1892 constructed through the centre 
of the chain. 10,670 miles of telegraph are open. 

The government of Spain is a hereditary monarchy 
founded on the constitution of 1876. The Cortes 
consists of two bodies — the Senate, one-third of the 
members of which sit by hereditary right, one- 
third are appointed by the sovereign for life, and 
one-third elective. The Chamber of Deputies is 
elected at the rate of one member to every 50,000 
inhabitants. Universal suffrage (1890) and trial 
by jury have lately been introduced. The pro- 
vinces are administered by governors and pro- 
vincial deputations, and the towns by alcaldes and 
municipal councils, all formed more or less after 
the model of the French prefects, councils-general, 
maire, &c. All these and other employees are 
under the control of the government, who are 
thus able to manipulate elections, except in the 
large towns. The public debt of Spain, funded 
and floating, is about £259,900,000, bearing an 
interest at 4 per cent, of over £10,750,000. The 
revenue and expenditure, nominally nearly bal- 
anced, have risen from £31,000,000 in 1881 to 
£35,000,000 in 1891, and the wealth of the country 
is gradually increasing. 

The navy of Spain consists of one large ironclad, 
10 of from 7 to 9000 tons, 20 of the second class, 
and of over 80 vessels of smaller size. The army 
on a peace footing is 95,000, not including the 
Guardia civil, or gendarmes, the Carabineros, and 
other active or reserve forces. In war time the 
numbers officially supposed to be capable of serving 
amount to 450,000. 

The legal official currency is founded like the 
French on a decimal system, the peseta of 9*6 pence 



SPAIN. 11 

being the unit ; but the terms of the older coinage 
are still in use, especially for copper money and 
small change. The legal measures are still more 
closely copied from those of France ; but the older 
measures of capacity and weights are still in use in 
many of the provinces. 

See, besides the standard Spanish topographical and 
statistical books, Borrow's Bible in Spain, Ford's Hand- 
book and Gatherings from Spain, A. J. C. Hare's Wander- 
ings in Spain, and later books on the country and its life 
by Mrs. Harvey (1875), Rose (1875-77), Campion (1876), 
Frances EUiot (1882), Gallenga (1883), Hope-Edwardes 
(1883), Olive Patch (1884), Willkomm (Prague, 1884), 
Lomas (1885), Parlow (Leip. 1888), H. T. Finck (1891), 
and the present writer (1881). 

History. — Spain (Spania, Hispania, Iberia of 
the Greeks and Romans), from its position as the 
south-west peninsula of Europe, beyond which was 
the ocean only, early became a very eddy of tribes 
and races. Its prehistoric ethnology is not deter- 
mined. The earliest race of which we have 
authentic testimony is the Iberian. It occupied 
nearly the whole of Spain and the south of France 
before the Roman conquest. Overlying these Iberian 
tribes are probably two invasions of Celtic peoples : 
the earlier mingled with the Iberians, and formed 
the Celtiberian tribes of central and western 
Spain; the later has left the more purely Celtic 
names in the north and north-west. There was 
probably never any Iberian nation — only a congeries 
of tribes of the same race like that of the North 
American Indians, but in a higher state of civilisa- 
tion — a civilisation excelling that of contempo- 
raneous Gaul or the more purely Celtic tribes to 
the north. The Iberians were adepts at mining, 
and used writing (see Basques). Omitting traces 
left by mere traders, such as the Phoenicians on 
the south and south-west, the Egyptians on the 
east, Greeks from Massilia on the north-east, the 
first power which seriously attempted to occupy 
Spain was Carthage (q.v.). The Carthaginians 
had probably succeeded to the commercial enter- 
prises of their mother-country Phoenicia ; but it 
was not until they had retired baffled from Sicily 
that the occupation of Spain was seriously begun. 
Hamilcar, first of the great line of Carthaginian 
generals, opened the conquest in 238 B.C. (see 
Carthage, Hamilcar, Hannibal). Here again 
they were met and thwarted by the Romans (see 
Rome, Hannibal, Scipio). It then became the 
task of the Romans to conquer Spain. In sub- 



12 SPAIN. 

jugating the Iberian and Celtiberian tribes of 
Spain they found far greater difficulty than with 
any more purely Celtic race. Spain early showed 
her tenacity of resistance. The sieges of Saguntum, 
Numantia, Clunia are memorable in history. Even 
when conquest seemed assured Viriathus (147-140 
B.C.), probably a native, and Sertorius, a Sabine 
leader (83-72 B.C.), tried the capacity of the best 
generals of Rome. It was in Spain too that the final 
issue between Csesar and the Pompeians was fought 
out at Munda. Spain was not completely brought 
under Roman rule till the time of Augustus. Once 
subdued, it became thoroughly Roman. The impress 
of Rome has been deeper on the language, manners, 
and religion of Spain than on those of any other 
country. Under the Romans Spain was divided 
first into two provinces — Nearer and Farther Spain : 
in the time of Augustus these became three — Byetica, 
embracing nearly the modern Andalusia; Lusitania, 
Portugal with some of the western Spanish pro- 
vinces ; and Tarraconensis, comprisingthe remainder 
of the country. Local rule and customs and speech 
were, however, not wholly obliterated in the varied < 
Municipia and Respublicse. Celtiberian coinage 
continued contemporaneously with that of Rome, 
and for probably 200 years after Augustus. All 
the great arts and works of Roman civilisation 
nourished. Latin was the language of the educated 
classes, and Spain furnished a large contingent of 
authors to the silver age — Martial, Seneca, Quin- 
tilian, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Columella, Pomponius 
Mela. Trajan was a Spaniard. Some of Spain's 
greatest cities still bear Latin names — Legio (Leon), 
Emerita Augusta (Merida), Csesar Augusta (Zara- 
goza or Saragossa), Pompeiopolis (Pamplona). 
During Roman rule Christianity was introduced 
into Spain, and rapidly spread. In 325 A.D., at the 
Council of Mcea, Hosiusof Cordova was the greatest 
name in the west, overshadowing that of the bishop 
of Rome. Prudentius (338-405), almost the first 
Latin Christian poet, was a native of northern Spain. 
Two centuries later (560-636) Isidore, bishop of 
Seville, was the most learned writer of the west. 

With all western Europe Spain felt the effects 
of the downfall of the Roman empire. The 
native Spanish legionaries were serving in all 
parts of the empire; barely two foreign legions 
garrisoned the whole of Spain. Thus, when 
the Suevi, Alans, Vandals (c. 409), Visigoths 
(414; see Goths) invaded Spain, the country, 
which had cost the Romans two centuries to 



SPAIN, 13 

subdue, had little means of resistance. The 
Suevi established themselves in Galieia and 
Lusitania, the Vandals penetrated farther south, 
and gave their name to (V)andalusia ; thence in 
429 they crossed to Africa. The Visigoths brought 
with them more than a tinge of Roman civilisation. 
Though both Visigoths and Vandals were nominally 
Christians, their Arian heresy placed them in opposi- 
tion to the native bishops, the most ardent defenders 
of the Nicene faith. For some time Spain was 
only a province of a larger Visigothic kingdom. 
Theudis (573) was the first Visigothic king who 
fixed his court in Spain. It was not till the reign 
of Leovigild (584) that the Suevi were definitely 
dispossessed, and not till the reign of Suintilla (624) 
that the Byzantine Romans were finally expelled 
from the east coast; and even to the end they 
retained the Straits of Gibraltar and a few towns 
in southern Portugal ; and some native tribes in the 
Orospeda Mountains preserved their independence. 
The abjuration of Arianism by the sons of Leovigild 
strengthened the church at the expense of the 
monarchy. The bishops were supreme in the 
councils of Toledo, which were also the chief 
councils of the state. The Jews, unmolested by 
the Arians, were now persecuted and rendered 
hostile. They intrigued with the Mohammedan 
Arabs, who had conquered North Africa and 
crushed out Christianity. Their assistance and 
that of the count of the Roman possessions in the 
straits enabled Tarik to land at Tarifa ; and the 
Gothic monarchy was destroyed at the battle of 
the Guadelete (711), where fell also Roderic, last 
of the Gothic kings. The chief mark left by the 
Goths in Spain was in legislation ; first in the Lex 
Romania V^isigothorum, then in the Fuero Juzgo or 
Forum Judicum. The tradition of a conquering 
caste and the events of the reconquest made the 
Spanish aristocracy look on the Visigoths as the 
English gentry do on the Normans ; otherwise 
their influence has been exaggerated. The few 
remains of art are copies of Byzantine models. Of 
literature not a trace remains. 

The Moors in Spain. — Seldom has there been so 
rapid a conquest as that of Spain by the Arabs and 
Moors. In 714 they had gained the whole of 
Spain except the north and north-west. In 719 
they had added the Narbonnaise to their domin- 
ions ; in 732 they reached their extreme northern 
limit when defeated by Charles Martel at the 
battle of Tours. The Arabs and Moors were 



14 SPAIN. 

divided by racial, tribal, sectarian, and dynastic 
differences. The old quarrels which had existed 
in Arabia before the time of Mohammed broke 
out again in Spain as soon as the first enthusiasm 
of conquest had subsided. Arabs and Berbers of 
North Africa were ever at strife ; the feuds 
between the sects of Islam raged bitterly in Spain, 
and the claims of rival dynasties — e.g. the Abbas- 
ides and Ommiades— weakened the common cause. 
Whenever the Moors were united the progress of 
the reconquest was checked ; the Christians gained 
ground when division and disunion spread among 
the invaders. The final expulsion was delayed for 
centuries through the civil strife of the Christian 
kingdoms. The rule of the early emirs was by no 
means harsh ; a Gothic chief Theodoric preserved 
an independent Christian kingdom, Todmir, in 
Valencia and the neighbouring provinces. The 
Jews were treated almost as equals, the Christian 
religion was tolerated to the Mozarabes (see Moris- 
cos). There were differences in the several pro- 
vinces, but at Cordova only, which became the 
capital of the western calif ate (see Calif, Moors), 
was any persistent persecution carried on. Under 
Abderrahman I., the heir of the Ommiades, and 
his successors the Arab rule in Spain attained its 
highest glories. He (756) and his son Hakam I. 
(796) made Cordova the finest city in the west ; 
its mosque (786-796) is still one of the grandest 
remains of Arabic architecture. No Christian 
people in the west was then capable of such work. 
The greatest chief of this period was Almansor, 
who forced back the tide of Christian conquest and 
penetrated to Compostella in Galicia (997) ; but all 
his conquests were lost at Catalanazor (1002). 
Many Moorish names survive in Spanish topography 
(see Names). The origin of the various Spanish 
kingdoms of the reconquest is obscure. Pelayo, said 
to be of Gothic or mixed Roman blood, began the 
reconquest at Covadonga in 718. A little later a 
distinct organised resistance commenced in Navarre 
and in Aragon. The counts of Barcelona estab- 
lished themselves in the Spanish March which dated 
from Charlemagne (q.v. ) and Louis. The most 
important of these kingdoms was that of Asturias. 
Galicia on the west was soon annexed to it, then 
Leon to the south. Alfonso I. (739-756) had 
already overrun the country as far as the Mondego 
and the Sierra de Guadarrama. Alfonso II. (791- 
842), the ally of Charlemagne, pushed his raids as 
far as Lisbon, and founded in the north the cities 



SPAIN. 15 

of Compostella and Oviedo. Alfonso III. (866-909) 
removed the capital to Leon, and reached in one ex- 
pedition the Sierra Morena. The unwise division of 
his dominions among his sons retarded the advance 
for a time. After the battle of Catalanazor the 
Christian frontier stretched from the Tagus to 
Tudela on the Ebro ; and Castile (the land of 
frontier castles), which had been governed from 
932 by semi-independent counts, rose into a new 
kingdom. From this period date the constitutional 
liberties of Spain. The councils summoned by the 
king continued those of Toledo, and were as much 
political as ecclesiastical : assemblies of the nobles 
and magnates to settle the succession or election 
of kings were held in 931 and 933 ; but the first 
more general Cortes was that of Leon, 1020. In it 
was established the right of behetria — i. e. of chang- 
ing lords, which in Spain prevented many of the 
worst feudal abuses, but encouraged civil war. 
Many of the fueros were now granted in order 
to attract defenders to towns reconquered and 
denuded of inhabitants (see Fuero). 

After the death of Bermudo III. (1037) the 
crowns of Leon and Castile were united under 
Ferdinand the Great ; his son, Alfonso VI. , by his 
capture of Toledo (1085) made the Christian power 
predominate. In spite of a defeat at Zalacca 
(1086) and at Ucles (1108), Toledo was never 
reconquered by the infidels, and the Guadiana 
instead of the Tagus was now the Christian 
boundary. To the reign of Alfonso VI. belongs the 
story of the Cid (q.v. ), of his strange career as ally 
alternately of Moor and Christian, of his occupa- 
tion of Valencia from 1096 to 1102. Henry of 
Burgundy founded the country or kingdom of 
Portugal in 1095 (see Portugal). Alfonso VII. 
lost the battle of Alarcos (1194), but the great 
victory of Navas de Tolosa (1212), under the allied 
kings of Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, broke 
entirely the power of the Almohades, and made 
New Castile secure. The separation of Leon from 
Castile (1157-1230) weakened for a time the 
Christian forces. Under St Ferdinand, the grand- 
son of Alfonso IX. , the crowns of Leon and Castile 
were finally united. He wrested Cordova from 
the Moors (1236), Jaen (1246), Seville (1247), 
Jerez and Cadiz (1250), Granada became a tribu- 
tary kingdom, and the line of the Guadalquivir 
was held by the military orders of Calatrava, 
Santiago, and Alcantara. Ferdinand died in 1252. 
Navarre (q.v-) by the succession of the line of 



1G SPAIN. 

Champagne had become almost a French kingdom. 
To the east Saragossa had been taken in 1118. 
Valencia had been lost for a time, but first 
Majorca and the Balearic Isles (1228), then 
Valencia (1237) fell before the arms of Jaime I. 
of Aragon, and Murcia was won for Castile (1244). 
In constitutional progress Navarre and Aragon 
kept pace with Castile. Each had its separate 
Cortes, with three estates in Navarre and four in 
Aragon, and its own code of laAvs. Castile used 
the Fuero Juzgo and the Fuero Heal, limited by 
local fueros ; in Navarre and Aragon the fuero was 
supreme. Catalonia had her usatges. The Siete 
Partidas of Alfonso X. did not become law till 
1384. In ecclesiastical matters Spain had become 
more closely papal ; the Roman rite had superseded 
the Isidorian or Mozarabic after the taking of 
Toledo; the finest of the cathedrals of Spain — 
Leon, Burgos, Toledo, &c. — date from this period. 
Christian Spain had increased immensely in wealth, 
yet it took nearly two and a half centuries to 
destroy the remains of Moorish power. The period 
between the death of St Ferdinand and the acces- 
sion of Isabella of Castile (1468) was one of trouble 
and almost constant civil war. The influence of 
the Moors on Christians was in some ways more 
marked than before. Alfonso the Wise (1252-84) 
in his court at Toledo adopted the best of Moorish 
science and literature, and the philosophy and art 
which they had acquired from the Greeks and 
Byzantines, and henceforth Spanish was not in- 
ferior to Moorish civilisation. A century later the 
Moorish influence was almost wholly ill in the 
Sevillan court of Pedro the Cruel, the ally of the 
Black Prince, whose whole career and death by his 
brother's hand was more like that of an oriental 
sultan than of a western monarch. The troubles 
of Castile arose from disputed successions, from 
long minorities, from the claim of the nobles, even 
those of the royal family, to transfer their allegi- 
ance to any sovereign they might choose (behetria). 
The Infantes cle la Cerda and Henry of Trastamare 
acted alternately as subjects of Castile, Aragon, or 
France, or entered into alliance with the Moors, as 
might serve their private interests. The only 
trustworthy allies of the crown were the burghers 
and the clergy, but the rivalry of the cities made 
their allegiance doubtful. At the death of Henry 
IV. (1474) the crown of Castile was left with two 
female claimants, his daughter Juana (the Beltra- 
naja) and his sister Isabella. The election of the 



SPAIN. 17 

former meant union with Portugal; by the mar- 
riage of Isabella with Ferdinand of Aragon her 
election united Castile and Aragon. Under a 
series of strong monarchs, Avhose authority was 
limited by a powerful aristocracy, Aragon had 
become a strong Mediterranean power — to the 
Balearic Isles had been nominally added Corsica 
and Sardinia, more really Sicily and Naples, with 
claims on Northern Italy ; these claims and posses- 
sions after the union led to the waste of Spanish 
blood and treasure for centuries, without any cor- 
responding advantages. The conquests from the 
Moors in this period were few but important 
— Tarifa (1292), to recover which the African 
Moors made their final effort of conquest; their 
defeat on the Salado (1340) entailed the loss of 
Algeciras in 1344; and Gibraltar, which they had 
recovered after 1309, became Spanish in 1462. 
Henceforth the Moors existed in the Peninsula on 
sufferance only, while the Christians were gather- 
ing their forces for the final blow. 

Small as were the resources left to the Moors, 
they were weakened still further by dissensions in 
the ruling families. Boabdil, the last king of 
Granada, would have made terms with Castile ; 
his uncle, Muley Hacem of Malaga, and his 
nephew, El Zagal, opposed a strenuous resistance. 
Alhama was taken 1482, Ronda 1485, Malaga 1487, 
Baza 1488, and the Spanish sovereigns with an 
army of 100,000 men sat down to the siege of 
Granada in 1491. January 2, 1492, the city sur- 
rendered ; October 12, 1492, Columbus discovered 
America; in 1512, after the death of Isabella, 
Ferdinand wrested Spanish Navarre from its Gas- 
con king. 

Henceforth the history of Spain is no longer 
exclusively Spanish, but also European. The 
whole of the Peninsula except Portugal was united 
under one rule, but true political unity was very 
far from having been attained. Aragon and 
Navarre still preserved their separate Cortes, privi- 
leges, and regnal titles; the Basque Provinces 
continued almost a republic under a Spanish 
suzerain. In Castile, however, the royal power 
had been greatly strengthened ; the fatal mistake 
of the procuradores in accepting royal pay under 
Pedro the Cruel ensured the ultimate subserviency 
of Cortes. The masterships of the great military 
orders had become the gift of the crown in 1476, 
and in 1513 Pope Hadrian VI. annexed them per- 
manently to it; the Hermandades (q.v.), or ancient 



18 SPAIN. 

associations, first of the bishops, afterwards of 
civil bodies, for defence of their rights and for the 
suppression of disorder, became a powerful govern- 
mental police ; the Inquisition, first employed on a 
large scale against the Albigenses by the Domini- 
cans in 1248, had been remodelled (1478) to the 
profit of the crown. But the increased power of 
the monarchy lay chiefly in the condition of the 
conquered provinces. Their incorporation was an 
immense gain to the country, but it gave the king 
a basis for despotism, and a standing force where- 
with he could crush any revolt in the north. The 
still advancing wave of Mohammedan power was 
not finally rolled back until the battle of Lepanto 
(1571) and the raising of the siege of Vienna (1683). 
The Moors of Barbary were still able to harass 
Spain and seriously to. check her trade ; but the 
most fatal legacy of the Moors was the fact that 
Spain had won her glory as champion of Christianity 
against Islam in the peninsula, and continuing this 
role she wasted all her resources, and failed, as 
champion of Roman Catholicism against Protes- 
tantism in Europe. 

On the death of Isabella her eldest daughter 
Juana, who had been married to Philip, son of the 
Archduke Maximilian, sovereign of the Nether- 
lands, succeeded, jointly with her husband, to 
Castile. Ferdinand retired to Aragon. Philip 
died in 1506, and Ferdinand resumed the govern- 
ment of Castile as regent for his daughter, who 
was incapacitated by insanity. Ten years after- 
wards he died, leaving all his kingdoms to Juana, 
with her son Charles as regent. Till the arrival of 
Charles Spain was really governed by Archbishop 
Ximenez (q.v.), whose work in the interest of 
the crown was almost as important in Spain as 
that of Richelieu later in France; his intolerance 
to the conquered Moors brought on revolts, and all 
the subsequent troubles with the Moriscos were 
the result of the policy which he initiated. For 
the history of Charles I. as Charles V. Emperor of 
Germany, and of his action towards the Protes- 
tants and his campaigns in Italy and Germany, 
see Charles V. His reign was marked by the 
triumph of absolutism in Castile. His appoint- 
ment of Flemings to high offices in Spain, and his 
exorbitant demands for supplies, led to the rising of 
the cities of Castile and to the war of the comun- 
eros. These were vanquished at Villalar in 1521, 
and Toledo surrendered soon afterwards. A more 
popular movement in Valencia was crushed by the 



SPAIN. 19 

nobles of that province. Charles by timely ap- 
pointments had separated the cause of the nobility 
from that of the cities; and on the refusal in 1538 
of the nobles and clergy to share the burden of 
taxation these bodies ceased to be summoned to 
Cortes. The conquest of Tunis in 1535 was a 
brilliant feat of arms; the attempt on Algiers 
(1541) utterly failed. The troubles in Germany 
prevented Charles from following up these cam- 
paigns, which might have had results of great 
benefit to Spain. Worn out by disease, frustrated 
in all his plans, having failed in the election of his 
son Philip as emperor, Charles resigned first his 
hereditary dominions in 1555, and in 1556 abdi- 
cated the empire in favour of his brother Ferdinand, 
and his other crowns in favour of Philip, and 
retired to the monastery of Yuste, where he died 
in 1558. 

When Philip II. (q.v.) ascended the throne of 
Spain her dominions were at their greatest. Spain, 
to which Portugal was added in 1580, Sicily, a 
great part of Italy, the Low Countries (Holland 
and Belgium), the whole of North America except 
the English and French possessions, the whole of 
South America after 1580, the Philippine and other 
islands in the East, and possessions in Africa formed 
the first empire on which it could be said that the 
sun never set. Philip had inherited the difficulties 
and complications of his father's policy without his 
father's ability. Dull, tenacious, yet irresolute, 
the type of a conscientious bigot, he lived ruth- 
lessly up to his own ideal. He acted as the cham- 
pion of orthodoxy in Europe ; wherever the faith 
was in danger there would he protect it. He 
sacrificed everything to this. And he ruled alone, 
with no assistant body of councillors, with secre- 
taries only. Well served he was by generals, 
ambassadors, admirals, by great men in all depart- 
ments ; he had the finest fleets and armies or his 
age ; he never swerved from his purpose ; he did 
not, like his father, retire when bafned, but died 
working in his life's cause to the end. His return 
to Spain in 1559 was marked by his presence at 
the autos de fe at Valladolid and Seville. He 
failed in his attempts on Tunis and Algiers, but 
raised the siege of Malta in 1565 ; he put down the 
rebellion of the Moriscos in 1568-71, and Don John 
of Austria gained for him in 1571 the great sea-fight 
of Lepanto, which stayed the advance of the Turks 
in the Mediterranean. The action of Philip in 
introducing the Inquisition (q.v.), popular among 



20 SPAIN. 

the lower classes in Spain, but abhorred elsewhere, 
the license of the Spanish soldiery, and the stern 
rule of Alba produced a revolt in Flanders in 1559, 
which led to the formation of the United Provinces 
in 1609 (see Holland). The abilities of the 
regents and generals, especially of the Duke of 
Parma, who took Antwerp in 1585, gave for a 
time hope of reconquest ; but the loss of the 
Armada (1588), and the diversion of Parma's 
forces against France (1590-92), made the contest 
hopeless. Henceforth Philip's power evidently 
declined. A quarrel with his secretary, Antonio 
Perez, led to an outbreak in Aragon and the 
restriction of its liberties in 1592. His communi- 
cations and commerce with the colonies and with 
Flanders were continually threatened by Dutch 
and English corsairs. Philip had introduced the 
practice of raising money in Spain without consent 
of the Cortes, which was no longer regularly sum- 
moned. From ignorance of the true principles 
of political economy the very wealth of Spain 
hastened her decline. The false colonial policy of 
the time, with its restrictions and monopolies, 
gave all the profit of the commerce to contraband 
trade ; the supply of only the precious metals 
made gold and silver cheaper in Spain than else- 
where and all other commodities dearer. Her 
rising industries died away. The bullion left her 
to purchase from foreigners things which she no 
longer produced and for which she had nothing 
else to give. Districts cultivated by the Moors 
became desert, population declined, and both the 
forces and resources of Spain by sea and land 
diminished yearly. Philip II. died September 13, 
1598, in the palace of the Escorial. 

Philip II. had reigned alone ; with his son Philip 
III. began the reign of favourites, which continued 
Avith slight intermissions through both Austrian and 
Bourbon dynasties to the Revolution. The Duke 
of Lerma was the real sovereign. The ability of 
Spinola, who recovered Ostend in 1604, and of the 
captains trained in the school of Flanders upheld 
the prestige of the Spanish arms for a while ; but 
her power was declining. The expulsion of the 
Moriscos, an agricultural population, in 1609 
weakened her still more. In 1618 Lerma fell from 
power, but no improvement took place. Philip IV. 
(1621-65) possessed some taste for literature and 
art, but was as incapable of governing as his 
father. In the Thirty Years' War Spain fought 
on the side of the emperor, and her soldiers greatly 



SPAIN. 21 

contributed to his success, but she had no share in 
the profit. The government was in the hands of 
the Conde-Duke of Olivares, whose ambitious pro- 
jects and wasteful expenditure introduced corrup- 
tion everywhere. All offices became venal. The 
rights of the more independent kingdoms of 
Spain were violated, bringing about the revolt of 
Catalonia ; the navy was almost destroyed by 
the Dutch at Dunkirk in 1639 ; Rousillon was 
lost in 1642; with the battle of Rocroy (1643) 
departed the renown of the Spanish infantry, and 
the military supremacy henceforward belonged to 
France ; Naples and Catalonia rose in revolt in 
1648. In 1655 Jamaica was taken by the English. 
The marriage of the Infanta Maria Teresa to 
Louis XIV. and the peace of the Pyrenees (1659) 
assured to that monarch the supremacy in Spain 
which had formerly been exercised by Philip II. 
in France. After an inglorious struggle Portu- 
gal and all her colonies were lost in 1640. The 
reign of the childless Charles II. (1665-1700) closed 
the Austrian dynasty, a period of degradation sur- 
passed only by that of the Bourbon Charles IV. a 
century later. Spain was considered as a prey to 
whichever of the great powers of Europe could lay 
hands on her. A brief war against France in 
alliance with Holland lost Franche Comte. Spain 
shared in the great wars of Louis XIV. , but who- 
ever else won she was always a sufferer ; and the 
lack of a navy left her commerce and her richest 
colonies at the mercy of the buccaneers. A first 
treaty of partition of her dominions was made in 
1698, followed by a second in 1700, after the death 
of the rightful heir, Leopold of Bavaria, in 1699. 
Contrary to his father's provisions, Charles left the 
throne to the grandson of Louis XIV. This did 
not avert the War of Succession (q.v.) and the 
losses which it occasioned. At the beginning of 
the 17th century the Spanish armies were the first 
in the world, her navy was the largest ; at its close 
the latter was annihilated, her army was unable 
without assistance from Louis XIV. to establish 
the sovereign of her choice ; population had declined 
from 8 to less than 6 millions, the revenue from 280 
to 30 millions ; not a single soldier of talent, not a 
statesman, remained to recall the glories of the age 
of Charles V. and Philip II. ; the whole country 
grovelled in discontent at the foot of unworthy 
favourites raised to power by court intrigues, and 
dependent on a foreign prince. 

The first of the Bourbon kings of Spain, Philip 



22 SPAIN. 

V. (q.v.), was proclaimed in Madrid, May 1700. 
He was accepted by the Cortes of Castile, but not 
by Aragon or Catalonia. His rival, the Archduke 
Charles, was supported by all the enemies of Louis 
XIV. The theatre of the War of Succession 
included Flanders, Germany, and Italy, as well as 
France and Spain and their colonies. In Flanders 
and Germany the English under Marlborough were 
victorious, but in Spain they fought with less 
success. Gibraltar was taken by Sir George Rooke 
in 1704, Valencia and Barcelona were occupied by 
Peterborough in 1705, and Philip was twice driven 
from Madrid. But with the aid of Berwick he 
won the battle of Almansa (1707), and Vendome 
defeated Stanhope at Brihuega and Villaviciosa in 
1710. The exhaustion of France, and the eleva- 
tion of the archduke to the empire, led to the 
treaty of Utrecht in 1712. Catalonia submitted 
in 1714, and Spain was forced to adhere to the 
treaty, losing all her Italian possessions, Sardinia, 
Minorca, Gibraltar, and Flanders. 

Philip V.'s first care was to alter"* the law of 
Spanish regal succession in accordance with the 
Salic law of France, a change productive of serious 
consequences later. Though during the war Philip 
had shown much spirit, a constitutional melancholy 
led him to resign his crown in 1724 to his son Louis, 
on whose death, after a reign of a few months, 
Philip resumed power. The entire government 
was in the hands of his second queen, Isabel 
Farnese, and her minister Alberoni. Their whole 
policy was directed to the establishment of her 
sons in Italy as duke of Parma and king of 
Naples and Sicily. In this she succeeded, but 
the gain was simply for the House of Bourbon ; it 
brought no advantage to Spain. To Philip V. 
succeeded his son Ferdinand VI. (1746-59). His 
choice of ministers was good, and his avoiding 
war gave the country an opportunity of internal 
development. This led to the greater reforms of 
his half-brother Charles III. (1759-88). He had 
already been successively duke of Parma and 
king of Naples and Sicily, and his was the most 
flourishing of all the Bourbon reigns. He brought 
with him his Italian ministers, Grimaldi and 
Esquilache, who made the policy of the early part 
of his reign too subservient to that of France. 
Afterwards he gathered round him the most intel- 
ligent Spaniards of his day. Superstitiously reli- 
gious though he was in private life, his reign was 
yet notable for the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1757, 



SPAIN. 23 

for reasons which have never been clearly explained. 
The years 1764-66 were marked by reforms in the 
administration of the colonies, where great abnses 
existed. Only 840,000 dollars out of a revenue of 
4 millions really entered the treasury. These 
revenues rose shortly from 6 million to 20 million 
dollars for Mexico alone. His home policy was 
equally successful : new manufactures were estab- 
lished, roads were improved, more beneficial com- 
mercial treaties were made, banks were introduced, 
and population increased with wealth. Through 
fear of the movement spreading to her own colonies, 
Spain wisely remained neutral during the war of 
independence of the United States. The foreign 
events of the greatest importance were a fruitless 
expedition to Algiers in 1775, the recovery of Minorca 
in 1782, and the fruitless siege and blockade of 
Gibraltar (1779-82). The great defect of this reign 
was that nearly all Charles's ministers were afran- 
cesados; their reforms were based rather on the 
theories of the French encyclopedists than on the 
real needs and the principles of liberty still existing 
in Spain. There was a wide gulf between the edu- 
cated classes and the body of the nation. Charles 
IV. (1788-1808) retained for a short time his father's 
ministers ; but they were soon replaced by Godoy, 
whose unbounded influence over Charles and his 
queen, limitless greed, and shameless subservience 
to the French, especially to Napoleon, brought the 
nation to the verge of ruin. He not only accumu- 
lated almost all offices in his own person, but in 
secret schemes with Napoleon bargained for himself 
half of Portugal as an independent kingdom, or a 
hereditary viceroyalty in America. On the out- 
break of the French Revolution, in spite of ties of 
blood and of old treaties, Charles IV. was the last 
to protest against the overthrow of royalty and the 
execution of Louis XVI. A campaign was then 
begun on the Pyrenean frontier in 1793, with some 
success at first, changed to defeat as soon as the 
Republic could spare forces to turn against her 
southern neighbour. In 1795 the peace of Basel 
gained for Godoy his title of Prince of Peace ; and 
the treaty of Ildefonso (1796) bound Spain to an 
offensive and defensive alliance with France against 
England. The result was disastrous. In 1797 
Jervis won the naval battle of St Vincent; Trini- 
dad was taken, and Cadiz bombarded. But Nelson 
was repulsed at Teneriffe, Puerto Rico was pre- 
served, and the expeditions of Beresford and White- 
locke in La Plata eventually failed. The com- 



24 SPAIN. 

merce and communications of Spain with her 
colonies was almost wholly destroyed. A scan- 
dalous quarrel between Charles IV. and his son 
Ferdinand (1807) augmented the hatred of the 
nation against Godoy. All three parties appealed 
to Napoleon for his arbitration and intervention. 
In view of the utter degradation of the crown 
many of the best men in Spain believed that a 
short rule by Napoleon might stem the tide of cor- 
ruption. The royal family and the favourite 
attempted flight, but this was prevented by a 
popular outbreak at Aranjuez. Godoy was hurled 
from power. Charles IV. abdicated in favour of 
his son, Ferdinand VII., March 17, 1808. French 
troops entered Madrid. Charles IV., his queen, 
and son Ferdinand, with Godoy, were summoned 
to Bayonne. There the crown was renounced by 
Ferdinand in favour of his father, who in turn ceded 
it to Napoleon. But on May 2 an unsuccessful out- 
break in Madrid had begun the war of liberation, 
and Napoleon had to face a nation in arms. June 
6, Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed king of Spain. 
Nominally he reigned till 1813, but the Juntas, 
the representatives of the nation, acknowledged 
only the captive Ferdinand VII. For details of 
the French occupation of Spain, their forcible ex- 
pulsion by Spanish, Portuguese, and English, see 
Moore, Wellington, Peninsular War, &c. 
While these operations were going on, the patriots 
were making great efforts to reform the govern- 
ment, and to give more real liberty to the people. 
The task was difficult; the absolutist party was 
still strong, and the liberals were divided ; but the 
Constitution of Cadiz of 1812 is really the com- 
mencement of modern Spain. When Ferdinand 
returned in March 1814, he found the absolutists 
still powerful enough to enable him to reject the 
constitution to which he had sworn, to re-establish 
the Inquisition, and to remove all restrictions to 
his rule. An insurrection headed by Riego and 
Quiroga forced him to accept the Constitution from 
1820 to 1823, but through the mistakes of the 
liberals, with the aid of 100,000 French soldiers 
under the Due d'Aumale, he regained his authority, 
and remained absolute master till his death. In 
December 1829 the childless Ferdinand married his 
fourth wife, Christina of Naples. Up to this time 
his brother, Don Carlos, had been considered heir. 
In prospect of issue, Ferdinand promulgated 
(March 31, 1830) the pragmatic law of Charles 
IV., 1789, restoring the old law of Spanish succes- 



SPAIN. 25 

sion. In September 1832 he revoked this sanction, 
but again recalled his revocation. Don Carlos was 
exiled to Portugal. April 4, 1833, Cortes acknow- 
ledged Ferdinand's daughter Isabella as heir to the 
throne, with her mother as regent. Ferdinand 
died 29th September 1833. During his reign the 
whole of Spanish continental America was lost (see 
America, Vol. I. p. 224, Peru, &c), and of all the 
vast colonies there remained only Cuba, Porto Rico, 
the Philippine, Caroline, and Mariana islands, Fer- 
nando Po, the Canaries, and a few ports and towns 
in Africa and the Straits. The opinion of Europe, 
which in 1823 had been conservative, and had en- 
abled Ferdinand to regain absolutism by French 
help, had in 1833-40 become liberal, and this, with 
English help far more than the skill of her own 
armies, enabled Christina to vanquish Don Carlos ; 
but her government was far from strong, revolts 
and pronunciamientos, both by liberals and con- 
servatives, were continually occurring. Monks were 
massacred in Madrid and Catalonia in 1834-35; 
church property was confiscated. The constitution 
of 1812, enlarged in 1836, was sworn by Isabella 
on attaining her majority in 1843. The marriage 
of the queen to her cousin, Francisco de Assisi, 
and of her sister to the Due de Montpensier, 
only weakened her position. Successive ministries 
rose or fell from power, all inefficient or corrupt. 
Narvaez in 1844 showed some energy. O'Donnell 
conducted successfully a campaign in Morocco in 
1859-60. On the whole, liberalism advanced ; re- 
publicanism appeared after 1848. In disgust at 
corrupt administration the country accepted &pro- 
nunciamiento by Prim and Topete at Cadiz in 1868. 
Isabella fled to France, and there resigned in 
favour of her son, Alfonso XII. The programme 
of the military leaders was simply destructive. A 
provisional government of two years (the chief event 
of which was to furnish the pretext for the Franco- 
German war of 1870) ended in the choice of Ama- 
deus (q.v.) of Savoy as king. In 1873 he resigned 
the crown. The republic which followed showed 
the wide differences between the Federalists and 
the conservative Republicans. This occasioned the 
second Carlist war, 1872-76 (see Carlists). On 
the waning of their cause, Isabella's son, Alfonso 
XII., was proclaimed king, 29th December 1874. 
February 27, 1876, Don Carlos withdrew to France. 
Mainly through the talents of his minister, 
Canovas del Castillo, Alfonso's reign of eleven 
years (1874-85) was a time of relative prosperity 

3 



26 SPAIN. 

and improvement, and enabled his queen Christina 
quietly to succeed as regent for his posthumous 
son, Alfonso XIII. , born 17th May 1886. Since 
then the liberals have returned to power, and 
changes of ministry are no longer marked by blood- 
shed or exile. The queen-regent is personally 
respected ; but both Carlists and Republicans still 
agitate. The constitution embraces all modern 
liberties. Since the last Carlist war Spain for the 
first time is under one legal rule ; but whether 
liberal or conservative, the ministries are chosen 
by corruption and intrigue rather than by any 
honest expression of the popular will, and the 
future of Spain is still in doubt. 

REGNAL YEARS OF SPANISH KINGS SINCE THE 
UNION OF ARAGON AND CASTILE : 

Isabella and Ferdinand (los reyes Catolicos) 1474 

Joana and Philip I. (Austrian dynasty) 1504 

Charles I 1516 

Philip II 1556 

Philip III 1598 

Philip IV 1621 

Charles II 1665 

Philip V. (Bourbon dynasty), grandson of Louis XIV. . .1700 
Luis I., a few months ; Philip V. resumed same year. . .1724 

Ferdinand VI 1746 

Charles III 1759 

Charles IV 1788 

Ferdinand VII 1808 

Joseph Bonaparte 1808-13 

Isabella II 1833 ; abdicated, 1868 

Provisional Government 1868-70 

Amadeus I. of Savoy 1870-73 

Republic 1873-74 

Alfonso XII 1874-85 

Queen Christina regent , 

Alfonso XIII born 17th May 1886 

There is no good general history of Spain. The new 
Historia General, now in course of publication in detached 
portions by members of the Academy of History, is not 
sufficiently advanced to pronounce upon. The introduc- 
tory volume of Bibliography, by Menendez y Pelayo, will 
almost certainly be valuable when published. In addi- 
tion to the works named under more special headings, 
we may mention M. M. Siret, Les Premiers Ages du 
Metal dans le Sud-Est de VEspagne (Antwerp, 1887) ; 
Hiibner's La Arqueologia de Espafia (Barcelona, 1888). 
In mediaeval Spain Schirrmacher's Geschichte Castiliens, 
12 und 13 Jahrh. (G-otha, 1881), and Geschichte Spaniens 
im 14 Jahrh. (Gotha, 1890), with a volume to follow, 
will lead up to Prescott's works. The reign of Philip II. 
has attracted numerous recent writers. Ferrer del Bio's 
Historia. del Reinado de Carlos III. en Espafia (4 vols.) 
is good. The Espafia Sagrada (51 vols. ) is a useful col- 
lection, chiefly for ecclesiastical events. The Academy 
of History in its Boletin and Memorias has valuable 



SPAIN. 27 

materials. Colmeiro's Introduction to the Cortes de 
Leon y Castilla (2 vols. Madrid, 1883) and Cardenas' 
Ensayo sobre le Historia de la Propiedad Territorial en 
Esparia (2 tomos, Madrid, 1873), besides the cronicas 
and contemporary writers of each period, will be found 
worth consulting. See also Aragon, Navarre, &c. 

Spanish Language and Literature.— Three 
Romance Languages (q.v.) are still spoken in 
Spain : the Castilian, generally known as Spanish ; 
the Catalan, a dialect of Provencal ; and the Gali- 
cian, closely allied to Portuguese. Castilian, which 
has been deservedly called * the noblest daughter 
of Latin,' is spoken, with slight local variations, 
by more than two-thirds of the population. The 
reason for its having to a great degree supplanted 
Catalan and Galician is to be found quite as much 
in political causes as in its own richness of vocabu- 
lary and stately measured cadence. Its chief char- 
acteristics are the purity of its vowel-sounds and 
the strong guttural, the origin of which is doubtful, 
though its introduction is undoubtedly modern. 
The Castilian vocabulary contains a large number 
of Arabic words, chiefly connected with agriculture 
or science ; Greek words, mostly of learned and 
modern introduction ; the traces of Basque and 
Gothic are slight. The influence of French is very 
noticeable, particularly during the 18th and 19th 
centuries. Castilian is the form of Spanish spoken 
in Mexico, Central America, South America (except- 
ing Brazil), Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the other 
Spanish colonies. 

See on the subject generally, Grober, Grundriss der 
Romanischen Philologie ; Diez, Grammaire des Langues 
Romaines (Fr. trans.); the admirable article by Alfred 
Morel Fatio in the Encyclopcedia Britannica ; the Dic- 
tionary of the Spanish Academy (1st ed. 1726) ; the 
Spanish-English dictionaries by Neumann and Baretti, 
Velasquez, Gamier. Grammars — Wiggers, Grammatik 
der Spanischen Sprache (Leip. 1884) ; Knapp, Spanish 
Grammar (Boston, 1887) ; Simplified Grammar, by the 
present writer (1892). For Catalan, Mila y Fontanals, 
Estudios de la Lemma Catalana. For Galician, Arce, 
Gramdtiea Gallega (Lugo, 1868). 

Castilian Literature. — The earliest existing docu- 
ments in Spanish belong to the first half of the 12th 
century. The first monuments of Spanish litera- 
ture are poetical. The Poema del Cid (see ClD), 
ascribed to the latter half of the 12th century, is a 
typical chanson de geste ; picturesque and spirited 
at times, it breathes the spirit of the turbulent age 
which produced it. Written in unformed and un- 
couth language, it displays a barbarous and irregular 



28 SPAIN. 

versification. The lines vary in length from twelve to 
sixteen syllables, and the same rhyme is carried on 
through long passages. To the 13th century belongs 
a body of religious poetry of tame character and 
slight merit. Gonzalo de Berceo is the first Spanish 
author whose name has come down to us. He wrote 
rhyming lives of saints and praises of the Virgin, 
which closely resemble in style, subject, and versi- 
fication those of other monkish authors of his own 
and the succeeding century. The 13th century 
saw the formation of literary Castilian. To this 
period belongs Alfonso the Wise, king of Castile 
(see Alfonso X.), who left behind him a large 
and valuable body of works written either by him- 
self or at his direction. The most important of 
these is the code of laws, with digressions on moral 
and political philosophy, known as Las Siete Par- 
tidas. This treatise, embodying anterior Gothic 
codes, has been the groundwork of all subsequent 
Spanish legislation ; it forms also a most important 
monument of the language, which now for the first 
time appears as an instrument fitted for literary 
production. A collection of verse, mostly of a 
religious character, and undoubtedly belonging to 
this period, has been long a puzzle to scholars from 
the circumstance that, appearing as the work of 
Alfonso the Wise, it is written in the Galician 
dialect. Alfonso's literary tastes were shared by 
his nephew, Don Juan Manuel, author of several 
works of great interest which have come down to 
us, and of many others now unfortunately lost. 
He is best known by the Conde Lucanor or Libro 
de Patronio, a series of stories mostly of eastern 
origin, loosely connected together and with rhymed 
morals attached. The most original writer of the 
14th century is Juan Ruiz, archpriestof Hita, a dis- 
reputable cleric, who relates his love adventures 
in poetical form, interlarding them quaintly with 
moral fables and religious hymns. In spite of 
great blemishes and frequently recurring obscene 
and blasphemous passages, the work is valuable 
from its vivacity and the excellent picture it gives 
of one side of life at the time. The verse is still 
that of the earlier poets, fourteen syllable lines, 
stanzas of four lines with one rhyme repeated. In 
prose these early centuries produced little that is 
worthy of note, as Latin was still much used. By 
the direction and, probably, under the supervision 
of Alfonso the Wise, was compiled the Grande y 
General Historia, extending from the creation 
nearly to his own times. This work was continued 



SPAIN. 29 

by official chroniclers, generally as a bare record 
of events, down to the time of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. Pedro Lopez de Ayala wrote the history 
of the kings under whom he lived in somewhat 
more picturesque and lively style than his prede- 
cessors ; his Bimado de Palacio is a caricature of 
the different classes of society of his time, for 
studying which his high position and many adven- 
tures gave him admirable opportunities. 

In the loth century two new and important 
branches of Spanish literature appear — the 
Romances of Chivalry {Libros de Caballerias) and 
Ballads {Romances). The Amadis de Gaula (see 
Amadis), first and best of books of chivalry, has 
come down to us in a translation from a Portu- 
guese version, of which the original is lost. It is, 
however, certain that this is not the earliest form 
of the story in Spanish. The Amadis is not free 
from the exaggerations and stilted style that 
deface later books of its class, but, unlike them, 
it contains passages of great beauty, and, in spite 
of its being a translation, its language is generally 
dignified and pure. The popularity of the class 
was great; but successive authors rivalled one 
another in Avild exaggeration and the frigid im- 
possibility of the adventures of their heroes, who 
live under social conditions that have never existed, 
and in a world without geography. The Romance 
of Chivalry was dying a natural death when 
Cervantes gave it the coup de grdce. The origin 
of the Spanish ballads is very uncertain ; they are 
probably of indigenous growth, as no striking 
parallels can be cited to support the theory that 
they are imitated from the poetry of the Moorish 
conquerors of Spain. The great mass of them was 
collected in the 16th and 17th centuries from the 
mouths of the people, but many of them are of 
much earlier date. Handed down orally from 
generation to generation, they underwent consider- 
able modification, and their language alone cannot 
be taken as a sufficient clue to their date. Their 
structure is characteristically Spanish; the lines 
may be considered either as octosyllabic or as of 
sixteen syllables with caesura; the same asonante 
or vowel-rhyme is continued throughout whole 
compositions. In subject these ballads range from 
sacred history to the Arthurian and Carolingian 
cycles, but the most valuable and interesting are 
those which celebrate the national heroes and the 
Moorish champions against whom they fought. 

Thus far the works mentioned have been of purely 



30 SPAIN. 

national character or derived from sources common 
to the writers of the middle ages; but at the court 
of John II. the influence of Provencal literature 
began to make itself strongly felt, and a generation 
of stilted and affected poetasters arose encouraged 
by the king, who formed one of their number. 
The works of many authors of this school are 
collected in the celebrated Cancionero cle Baena ; 
with the exception of a few religious pieces they 
are of slight merit, but they succeeded in enriching 
Spanish with new lyric metres. At the end of the 
15th century appeared the Tragicomedies cle Calisto 
y Melibea, better known as the Celestina. It is 
said to be the work of two authors, but the won- 
derful evenness of its style makes this hard to 
believe. The Celestina partakes of the nature of 
novel and drama. Written entirely in dialogue, 
but at the same time immoderately long and un- 
suited for dramatic representation, it is unique 
amongst works of its time and country, being per- 
fectly unaffected in style. Taking its subject from 
a side of life that must have been familiar to its 
authors, it neither shirks nor courts obscene details, 
but aims at and thoroughly succeeds in giving a 
true and animated picture, and at the same time 
enforcing a moral lesson. It soon became one of 
the most popular books in Spain, and was trans- 
lated into most European languages. 

It is probable that from Roman times the 
Drama (q.v.) never became extinct in Spain. It is 
mentioned in the Siete Partidas^ and one of the 
earliest extant pieces of Spanish is a miracle-play, 
El Misterio de los Reyes Magos. The modern 
Spanish drama, however, must reckon its origin 
from the end of the 15th century, when Juan del 
Encina wrote fylogas or representaciones of pastoral 
character, some of which Avere undoubtedly acted. 
Gil Vicente and Torres Naharro imitated and im- 
proved upon the methods of Encina, but Lope de 
Rueda, playwright and actor (fl. 1550), must be 
considered as the father of the Spanish dramatists, 
and as such he is mentioned by Cervantes. Con- 
tinuing the pastoral drama of his predecessors, 
Rueda also wrote regular plays, divided into acts. 
In these the influence of the Latin stage is per- 
ceptible. The best part of Rueda's work consists of 
his spirited interludes (entremeses, loas) of a popular 
and burlesque character. Cervantes (q.v.) com- 
menced his career as a dramatic author, but his 
two earlier pieces, La Numancia and El Trato de 
Argel, though finely conceived, were unsuccessful. 



SPAIN. 31 

With the decay of the popularity of the romances 
of chivalry is coincident the rise of the novel in its 
different forms. In the Diana Enamorada, Monte- 
mayor and Gil Polo directly imitated the Italian. 
Cervantes and Lope de Vega each produced a novel 
of the kind, but the false and exaggerated senti- 
ment and inferior verse to which the impossible 
shepherds generally treat one another in these 
compositions make it hard to understand the 
popularity which they undoubtedly enjoyed. Side 
by side with the pastoral novel, but with stronger 
growth, throve the realistic novela piearesca, or 
rogue's story (see Novels), subsequently brought 
to perfection by Le Sage, who in his Gil Bias drew 
largely upon his Spanish models. The earliest 
book of the kind is Lazarillo de Tormes, ascribed, 
apparently without reason, to Diego Hurtado de 
Mendoza (see Mendoza), a poet and historian of 
the time of Charles V. , at whose court he played a 
considerable part. Lazarillo, the hero, like his 
brethren of the other books of the class, is a poor 
boy of shady antecedents, who, by his own ingenuity 
and unscrupulousness, with varying fortune pushes 
his way, generally as a servant, amongst all classes 
of society. So admirable a vehicle for amusement 
and satire was not neglected, and Guzman de 
Alfarache, Marcos de Obregon, La Picara Justina, 
and many others go to prove the popularity of this 
kind of story. A solitary and not very brilliant 
example of the historical novel at an early date is 
the Guerras de Granada by Hita. 

Some of the older poets, amongst them the 
Marques de Santillana, had imitated Italian models, 
but the influence of Petrarch and his school is most 
directly felt in Juan Boscan and Garcilaso de la 
Vega, who nourished in the first half of the 16th 
century. The latter in his fylogas brought hen- 
decasyllables to perfection in Spanish, and left at 
his early death a small collection of the most beau- 
tiful poetry in the language. An imitator of, and 
at times a translator from, Virgil and Petrarch, he 
is not unworthy of his models ; the harmony of his 
verse is unsurpassed, unless it be by the Coplas de 
Manrique, probably one of the finest elegies extant. 

Lyric poetry reached its culmination in the 
first half of the 16th century. Most of it is of 
religious character. In sublimity of conception and 
perfection of execution Herrera's (see Herrera) 
odes and elegies are entitled to a very high place 
in European literature. Whilst Herrera sang of 
the victories and reverses of his time, Luis de 



32 SPAIN. 

Leon drew his inspiration from nature, solitude, 
and religious meditation. Sweetness of language 
never deserts him, but his productions are uneven 
in merit. The brothers Argensola (q.v.) owe their 
fame rather to good taste than to poetic inspira- 
tion. These writers come within the Spanish 
golden age, during which prose reached its highest 
development in the religious and mystic writings 
of Luis de Le6n, Luis de Granada, St Teresa, 
and Juan de la Cruz, in the histories of Mariana 
(q.v.) and Soils, and in parts of the writings of 
Cervantes (see Cervantes). The Don Quixote, 
with its quaint humour, rollicking fun, melan- 
choly touches, and profound views of human nature, 
is deservedly, both at home and abroad, the best- 
known and best-loved book in Spanish. Unique 
amongst the works of its time, and far superior to 
the other efforts of its author, it belongs to no 
class, and has no successor in Spanish or any other 
literature. Cervantes' other works, the Galatea, 
Per sites y Segismunda, Viage del Parnaso, dramatic 
works and novels, are read chiefly on account of 
the interest which must be felt for the author of 
Don Quixote. 

Contemporary Avith Cervantes was Lope de 
Vega (see Vega), the idol of his time, the 
'prodigy of nature' {monstruo de la naturaleza), 
as he was called on account of the immense mass 
and great variety of his writings. Almost every 
branch of literature was familiar to him. Of 
dramas alone he wrote over 2000, besides a great 
body of" lyric verse, epic and mock epic, novels 
both pastoral and of adventures, and criticisms. It 
is by his dramas that he is best known, and 
especially by those of cloak and sw r ord (capa y 
espada). These within certain well-defined limits 
afford considerable scope for variety. The scene 
is invariably laid in some Spanish town. The 
principal characters are two lovers, whose adven- 
tures and somewhat stilted dialogue are parodied 
and relieved by those of their servants, one of whom 
is generally the gracioso or buffoon, Avhose homely 
pleasantries sometimes jar disagreeably in the 
midst of fine and solemn passages. The metre of 
the Spanish drama is generally the same as that of 
the ballads ; some variety, however, both of group- 
ing of rhymes and of metre is admitted. A dis- 
tinctive feature is the exceeding intricacy of the 
plots. This characteristic is so marked as to have 
led several critics to believe that a Spanish drama 
requires a Spanish audience to follow it intelli- 



♦ SPAIN. 33 

gently. The great amount of the productions of 
Lope de Vega precluded all attempt at finish. His 
verse, however, is always flowing, and he generally 
attains success by thoroughly carrying out his own 
maxim that the drama is a purely popular form of 
literature, and that the only critics to be regarded 
are the mass of those who pay their money at 
the theatre-door. Calderon de la Barca (see 
Calderon) outlived the golden age of the drama 
of his country. More philosophic, careful, and with 
a higher ideal than Lope, he is generally incapable 
of carrying out his gigantic enterprises, and is, 
broadly speaking, a poet of fine passages rather 
than a dramatic author of high merit. In attempt- 
ing sublimity he frequently becomes bombastic and 
misty, and is deeply infected with the bad taste of 
his time. He perfected the auto sacramental, a 
religious play, or rather a dramatised theological 
discussion, in which such characters as Conscience, 
Free-will, Hope, and the cardinal virtues take part. 
On these, to modern taste, somewhat dull com- 
positions, in which Christian theology is frequently 
jumbled up with pagan mythology, Calder6n 
lavished a great deal of his best verse, and to them 
his reputation amongst his contemporaries was 
largely due. Equal to Lope or Calder6n as dra- 
matists, though inferior as poets, are Tirso de 
Molina (see Tellez) and Moreto. The former 
handled to perfection his native language, and is, 
more than any other, characteristically a Spaniard 
of his time. His defects are the want of a high 
ideal and the frequent coarseness of his language. 
Outside his own country he is chiefly known as 
the author who first dramatised the story of Don 
Juan Tenorio, the Burlador de Sevilla, a theme 
whose impressive nature he well knew how to 
take advantage of. Moreto is the most correct of 
Spanish dramatists, and his Desd6n con de'sden 
merits special mention, even in an age which pro- 
duced, besides the authors already mentioned, 
Rojas and Alarcon (q.v.). The number of dramas 
produced at this time is almost incredible, and 
some, even of the anonymous ones, are such as in 
a less fertile age would have sufficed to found a 
reputation. 

Spanish eloquence has always had a tend- 
ency to become bombastic ; mannerisms and 
affectation of the worst kind have been mistaken 
for cultured style ; extravagance of metaphor was 
rife even at the best period (see Euphuism) ; but 
when literature began to decay all these defects 



34 SPAIN. € 

became more marked. The typical representative 
of this cidto school is Luis de G6ngora (see Gon- 
GORA), a poet who enjoyed great popularity in the 
golden age, and whose example probably did much 
to hasten a climax which had already become 
inevitable. In his youth he wrote simply and 
correctly short lyric pieces of great beauty. It is 
difficult to believe that this is the same G6ngora 
who, a few years later, produced the Soledades 
and Polyfemo, poems so obscure, bombastic, and 
crammed with concetti that before his death they 
required lengthy commentaries. Amongst those 
who protested against the tendency of the times, 
whilst frequently allowing themselves to be carried 
away by it, was Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas 
(see Quevedo), the bitter satirist and writer 
of trenchant verse. Extremely versatile, his writ- 
ings include erotic verse, light lyrics, essays 
on government, picaresque novels, and theological 
discussions. In his merits and defects he closely 
resembles Swift. The best known of his works 
are his sueiios, or visions, in which the motives 
and manners of his time are held up to ridicule 
with a masterly and unsparing hand. 

At the end of the 17th century the sun of Span- 
ish glory set, and with it the sun of Spanish litera- 
ture, so suddenly and completely as not to leave 
an afterglow behind it. Of the succeeding century 
only a few names deserve mention. Padre Isla 
(q.v.) in Fray Gcrundio ridiculed the low ebb 
01 education, and particularly of pulpit oratory, 
with wit and good sense worthy of a better a«e. 
Samaniego and Yriarte wrote some clever fables 
in the style of the inimitable Lafontaine. The 
Academy, founded during the first half of the 18th 
century, produced the magnificent dictionary which 
is its chief claim to the gratitude of scholars. 
When literature seemed at its lowest ebb, and 
nothing found favour unless slavishly imitated from 
the French, Moratin (q.v.) came to add one more 
name to the glorious list of dramatists. 

The war of independence roused the Spaniards 
from the seemingly hopeless state of lethargy into 
which they had sunk. In lyric poetry Quintana 
and the Duque de Rivas attached themselves to the 
classical school, whilst the influence of Byron per- 
vades the noble verse of Espronceda, whose succes- 
sors are Zorrilla, Nunes de Arce, and Campoamor. 
Historians, critics, and scholars like Juan Valera, 
Menendez Pelayo, Pascual de Gayangos, and 
Canovas del Castillo worthily carry on the work 



SPAIN. 35 

commenced by Sanchez and Sarmiento. The^.drama 
flourishes, though still overshadowed by the French. 
The novel is, however, the department in which 
most progress has been made. In the early part of 
the 19th century Fernan Caballero(q.v.)and Trueba 
left the old and worn-out track, and drew their in- 
spiration and characters from the people of their 
own country and age. At the present time Spain 
possesses novelists worthy to rank with those of 
any other European country. Juan Valera's Pepita 
Jimenez is one of the best novels of the century. 
Pereda writes delightfully of his northern moun- 
tains. Emilia Pardo Bazan thoroughly understands 
her own people and time. Names like those of 
Alarcon, Perez Galdos, and Palacio Valdes have 
only to be better known to secure their possessors 
a wide appreciation outside their own country. 
History is occupied chiefly in the collection of 
materials, and many valuable monographs have 
been published. As a historian of his country the 
name of Modesto Lafuente must not be forgotten. 
Periodical literature of a not very high order is 
abundant. Signs of literary activity are visible in 
South America, but as yet no work worthy of 
separate mention has appeared. 

Catalan Literature. — The intercourse between 
Catalonia and Provence has been great from the 
earliest times. The troubadours of Provence carried 
with them across the Pyrenees their own language 
as well as their own poetical forms. Their influence 
may be seen in the works of Raymond Lully, whose 
poem 'Despair' [Lo Desconort) is deeply impreg- 
nated with their mannerisms. At the later end of 
the 14th century a consistory of the gay saber 
was founded at Barcelona in imitation of the one 
already existing at Toulouse. From this may be 
dated the partial emancipation of Catalan verse. 
Two Valencian poets distinguished themselves in 
their native language. Ausias March, whose songs 
of love and songs of death are fine in spite of in- 
tentional obscurity, and Jaume Roig, whose bitter 
satire, The Ladies' Book, is supposed to contain 
details of his own life. Roig died in 1478, and at 
the union of Castile and Aragon Catalan sank to 
the position of a dialect. In prose the principal 
monuments of old Catalan are the works of Lully, 
including the interesting Book of the Order of 
Knighthood ; the Chronicles, some of which are 
interesting both in matter and manner, especially 
that of Ramon Muntaner ; and one romance of 
chivalry entitled Tirant lo Blanch, an exaggerated 



m SPAIN. 

example of the defects of the class. In the 19th 
century Catalan verse has been revived, probably 
owing to the jealousy that has always existed 
between Madrid and Barcelona. This revival is 
largely owing to Jacinto Verdaguer, some of whose 
verse in archaic language is really charming and 
natural. In the Galician, which has never been a 
literary language, few books exist, with the excep- 
tion of collections of popular songs. 

Bibliography. — Castilian : Nicolas Antonio, Biblioteca 
Hispana (1788); Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, 
with notes by Pascual de Gayangos (1851). For the 
earlier period, Amador de los Rios, Historia Critica de 
la Literatura Espanola ; Yon Schack, Geschichte der 
Dramatischen Literatur in Spanien ; Ferdinand Wolf, 
Studien zur Geschichte der Spanischen und Portugie- 
sischen National-liter atur ; Menendez y Pelayo, Historia 
de las Ideas Esteticas en Espana (1885). A good short 
manual is Sanchez de Castro, Historia de la Literatura 
Espanola (1890). Catalan : Ballot y Torres, Gramdtica 
de la Llengua Cathalana ; Ximeno, Escritores del Reino 
de Valencia; Mila y Fontanals, De los Trovadores en 
Espana; Rubio y Ors, Benacimiento de la Lengua y 
Literatura Gatalana. For Spanish painting, see Vol. 
VII. p. 701. 








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